Bobblehead Law

News about the Supreme Court bobblehead premiums one might score for subscribing to The Green Bag (nice marketing touch, that) seems to be going viral. Alison Vingiano posted this piece to Buzzfeed on December 30, 2013, and CBS ran this story on January 6, 2014. More about the bobbleheads here at the Green Bag website.

So, what's the law on bobbleheads (watch the spelling)? Bobbleheads have actually figured in several cases, including copyright and insurance (Ohio Disc. Merch. Inc. v Westfield Ins., 2006-Ohio-4999, decided Sept. 26, 2006), in which an insurer refused to pay under a policy, alleging that the insured had used infringing (copyrighted) images of bobbleheads in its advertisements, and the action arose out of a breach of contract that was not covered under the policy. The same company, Ohio Discount Merchandise, settled a dispute in with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 over production of a Schwarzenegger bobblehead doll that pictured him with a gun. The deal agreed upon allowed the company to produce a Schwarzenegger doll without the gun; the company agreed to donate a percentage of its sales from the dolls to one of the Governor's preferred charities.